66 | Performance that Richard Loader Breeding sheep for performance by testing and challenging the stock under pressure are key objectives for the team at Orari Gorge Station which has 8,500 ewes including 1,200 fully recorded stud ewes across three studs, Romney, RomTex (maternal) and SufTex. “They’re run under very much under the same principles and mostly run together,” says Robert Peacock, who manages the station on behalf of his family. “The ram lambs and the ewe lambs are grazed separately with the Romtex and Romney ram lambs grazed as one mob.” Set in the South Canterbury foothills, just north of Geraldine, the station encompasses 4300 hectares and is replete with river ats at 230 metres above sea level, rolling clay downs at 300 – 450 metres and beautiful tussock country rising up to 1066 metres. The property is considered very summer safe and is home to 25000 stock units comprised of 50% sheep, 25% cattle and 25% deer. Robert says for Orari Gorge Station both looks and gures matter. Looks, in the sense of structure and conformation, and gures in the sense of strong performance. “Proven performance/production, especially under pressure, is the key to pro tability. In the commercial environment, the stud ewes are wintered out on the hill, come down for lambing, and are constantly under a high worm challenge.” In a summer safe landscape that is ideal for worms, Robert places emphasis on breeding for resilience and resistance to worms, and against dags. “We’re building resilience and resistance to worms by challenging the lambs. The resistance is all about the egg count on the ground. As well as focusing on high production we’ve adopted a low drench policy. We purposely put the stock under pressure with long intervals between drenches - about 10 weeks for lambs - and measure growth rates, dag score and worm resistance. No adult ewes, including two-tooths are ever drenched. Drenches are failing. Sixty percent of North Island farms now have resistance to Triple combination drenches.” There are economic, environmental and consumer factors at play too, explains Robert. “Labour is hard to nd, consumers don’t want chemicals used and the environment is changing, making it easier for parasites to survive and multiply. We cannot rely on drenches being a long term solution, genetics are the best long term solution.” Now in its fourth year, Orari Gorge Station will again host the Beef + Lamb Low Input Progeny Test this year, with 1,100 ewes mated — both rams and AI — and recorded for everything including dags, worm resistance and methane. Robert says the trial has delivered valuable insights. At an individual level there are signi cant differences between the AI sires and their progeny in respect to dag scores, worm counts and growth rates, and no one sire or breed did well at everything. “At a mob level it was clearly shown that you can have pretty good production with a lot less input. There were some rams whose progeny had a lot less dags than others, and some grew just as fast as the control mob that were getting drenched. “We found the worm count for the ewe lambs was 2400 eggs/gram in February 2020 and in May 2020 without a drench it dropped down to 700 eggs/gram. Their immune system had come to the fore. We learned a lot about grazing. We have some paddocks of pure clover and if the lambs were starting to struggle we could put them onto clover for a short period and they would bounce back quite quickly.” About 250 two-tooth rams are sold each year from November and over the summer months. Sold under private treaty, Orari Gorge Station rams attract considerable interest year in and year out. “We purposely put the stock under pressure with long intervals between drenches - about 10 weeks for lambs - and measure growth rates, dag score and worm resistance. No adult ewes, including twotooths are ever drenched. Drenches are failing. Sixty percent of North Island farms now have resistance to Triple combination drenches.” • from page 64 Shorthorn Stud popular Glenbrook Station has a shorthorn Stud which is building a loyal following. It’s also about being forward thinking with consumers increasingly demanding traceability meaning that SH8 Merino is already one step ahead of the game.” Glenbrook Station’s operation runs 3500 merino ewes nishing all lambs with additional lambs brought in each season. Under irrigation there is 400ha of cropping - mustard, bok choy, radish, peas, white clover, chicory, plantain, barley and oats. This also enables the Williamson’s to nish 100 beef cattle each year and winter up to 1000 dairy cows for about six weeks. Glenbrook Station has a Shorthorn Stud, which is building a strong and loyal following with repeat buyers growing each year. The breed is a nice natured English bred cattle, which works well as a cross over Hereford or Angus, says Simon. He says there is resurgence in interest in the shorthorn breed as it “ticks all the boxes” for farmers when it comes to obtaining a premium for their meat. Glenbrook Shorthorns offers around 30 bulls to the market by private treaty each year in April/May and farmers interested in the breed are always welcome to get in touch and come to the farm to take a look. admin • Dorset Down • Dortex • South Dorset On Farm: 196 Waipori Road, Lawrence Thur 15 December • Inspection from 11am, Sale 1pm OKARURU DORSET DOWN 2022 Ram Sale MEAT & WOOL » Glenbrook Station Clinic hours. 8am-5pm, Monday to Friday | Cnr Woodbury and Main North Roads Ph. 03 693 9060 | E. clinic@gatewayvets.co.nz | www.gatewayvets.co.nz Proud to support Orari Gorge Station
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